The song refers to the parable of the wise and foolish virgins ( Matt. 25.1 to 13 Lut ) and the prophecies of Isaiah ( Isa. 52.8 Lut ) and in particular the end of the liturgical year ( Ewigkeitssonntag for evangelical tradition) and the Advent sung (according to Catholic tradition).

The pair constellation that the human soul Zion will marry as personified Jerusalem is the Messiah, through the centuries from a Jewish and Christian interpretation of the Song of Songs emerged.

The characteristic sound of the early chant give a ringing theme name.

The song forms the basis of the same cantata on Awake, voice is calling, BWV 140 , by Johann Sebastian Bach . Mendelssohn used it for his oratorio St. Paul , both in the overture as a chorale. Max Reger developed it into his fantasy about the hymn "Awake, calls us the voice" (see Three chorale fantasias (Max Reger) , op 52, 2).

It is found today in the Protestant hymnal (EC 147, 3rd verse with chorale of Johann Sebastian Bach also EC 535 as the end of the stem portion) as the opening of the section end of the liturgical year, which its position as the main song for the last Sunday of equivalent, in the praise of God (GL 110) and in the Old Catholic hymnal Attuned (E 304), however, it is the section Advent , in the Free Church Hymns and Praise Celebration at No. 287 and the Mennonite hymnal at No. 414th

Especially the third verse has been changed in the course of this history of tradition, because the words consorts (in the sense of a partner), and jo, jo (or io, io, as In dulci jubilo ) already in the 19th Century were no longer perceived as understandable and timely